ISIS Blows up Jonah's Tomb in Iraq

(CNN) -- If you blink during the video, you might miss the moment Jonah's tomb in Mosul, Iraq, explodes.
The first few frames show the revered shrine towering over its landscape. There's a sudden burst of dust, fire and smoke.

Then, nothing.

CNN could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the video, which was posted to YouTube.

The holy site is thought to be the burial place of the prophet Jonah, who was swallowed by a whale or fish in both the Islamic and Judeo-Christian
traditions.

Militants belonging to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, planted explosives around the tomb and detonated the explosion remotely Thursday,
civil defense officials there told CNN.

Well there goes Jonah's tomb. Jonah was a prophet according to both Islam and Christian lore. The extremists blew up another mosque earlier in the
week, where they say the prayers are not strict enough. Mosul is Iraq's second largest city, and has been overtaken by ISIS.

ISIS blew up two whole mosques, leveling them, in one week. They destroyed 10 mosques prior to destroying Jonah's tomb - 6 Shiite mosques and 4 Sunni
mosques as they march toward Baghdad, and 11 Christian churches in Ninevah. Their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi thinks of himself as some sort of
messiah / harbringer of death figure.

ISIS in Jeremiah 50:46 "At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved and the cry is heard among the nations." There is your prophecy
segway. ISIS is fighting in both Iraq and Syria, and has taken over regions in both, declaring an Islamic state. They are also poising to take over
Rome.

This pretty much puts these guys solidly on my bad list, most of the time I can see both sides, but these are radical Islamic terrorists destroying
churches and mosques, it sounds pretty destructive, like chaotic evil harbingers of death or something. And they do it while spreading the word of
God, to top it all off.

It is starting to look like the war against Russia and the Islamic extremists in the Middle East is at a tipping point. From the sounds of what I was
reading and listening to, Iraq and Syria are a mess, more than usual. The same thing is happening in Ukraine - all out civil war, with rebels holding
entire cities.

Although I'm still not sure why we support the rebels in Syria and are against the exact same group in Iraq.

These people are not Muslims, and as a Sunni myself, that is not a statement of opinion. I mean, they're not even extremists. Muslim extremists are
people who stand on one foot on top of a cactus in a desert for sixty years. Or, yes, people who believe they are under attack and are therefore
allowed, by Qu'ran, to fight back with total ferocity. Their definition of being under attack is definitely a matter of opinion and interpretation,
and they take a very wide view of what it means. But this ISIS thing of using violence to perpetuate and correct Islam itself is a completely
different story. It's forbidden. This is like they're running around coated in pig lard and committing adultery "for Islam". It makes so little sense
I'm deeply skeptical it's not a -- and this is what the phrase actually means, my friends!

What the hell is wrong with these people? Not only are they murdering innocent people and destroying historical monuments, with the help of the
mainstream media they are profaning the sacred name of Isis, the goddess of love. en.wikipedia.org...

This is an excellent question. I have no evidence, just conjecture, but something is very suspicious about ISIS, to me. Usually, I see this kind of
violence as supported by Western propaganda and arms dealing, but also arising from tragic but at least nominally Muslim interpretations of faith.
This time it's just bizarre. I can't even work out what would be gained from a false flag conducted in this way, though, as so many people who are not
Muslim believe it all so quickly, so the purpose can't be demonization. If that were necessary, people would be shocked, instead of convinced.

Why, I kept thinking, if I work from the false flag hypothesis, go after CHURCHES and MOSQUES? What Westerner would blow up a holy Christian site?
What people on this planet ohhhhh wait....right. There is in fact one group of extremists who would not at all be bothered by either but they ain't
Muslim, is they.*

They're also very good at war, however. And this is boneheaded. I know who gains, but what do they gain?

What, as you say, might they be seeking to find, or to destroy?

*Note: I believe the Jewish people do need to have a safe homeland, but that Zionism in its present form is not only not achieving this, it never
will. Jews do not control the media, international finance, or the ruling elite. Israel does not control the United States -- it is a client state of
the US, imbued with tremendous power due to its strategic importance. Most Jewish people seem to be against its policies these days, and citizen
Israelis live in a propaganda bubble so extreme it makes Americans look informed. I mean specifically and only Israeli terrorists.

edit on
25-7-2014 by sepermeru because: and one of my best friends is Druish

This pretty much puts these guys solidly on my bad list, most of the time I can see both sides, but these are radical Islamic terrorists destroying
churches and mosques, it sounds pretty destructive, like chaotic evil harbingers of death or something. And they do it while spreading the word of
God, to top it all off.

A tomb is a symbol of idolatry, something strictly forbidden in their interpretation of Islam. They're not doing it because they want to be
jackasses, they're doing it because their religion tells them to. That doesn't make it right, but it's their line of thought.

Why would they wish to destroy such a site? What are they going to do next, nuke Mecca? I fail entirely to understand the motivation for this sort of
action. Surely blowing the place up, destroying all the ancient relics and architecture, is counter productive to their stated cause?

Of course, there must be a reason for what they did, that makes sense to them at any rate, but I would love to know what cause is served by the
eradication of the physical history of the region. Unless of course, the artefacts and buildings on these sites, contain some sort of undeniable proof
of the illegitimacy of the ISIS way of doing business. No fascist allows their operations to be questioned, least of all by faith.

I suppose in a warped mind, the rationale could be that by destroying the Human opposition and hence memories to an idealistic point of view, then
destroying the physical history in the form of ancient buildings and temples, the destroyers can rewrite history as they wish it to be believed by
future indoctrinated generations.

It's a megalomaniacal, but not uncommon theme seen throughout history.

Islamist blowing up mosques and Jonah's Tomb! If I didn't know any better I'd think these terrorist weren't Islamic at all but a paid militant group
hired to ignite peoples hatred against Islam. But as we all know the media doesn't lie does it. If it wasn't for the media replaying the WMD mantra a
million times we would never have got all that WMD out of Saddam Hussein hands .

originally posted by: TrueBrit
Why would they wish to destroy such a site? What are they going to do next, nuke Mecca? I fail entirely to understand the motivation for this sort of
action. Surely blowing the place up, destroying all the ancient relics and architecture, is counter productive to their stated cause?

Either the artifacts are heresy and detract from the worshop of Allah in which case they need to be destroyed or they simply reiterate what the
Qu'ran states in which case they aren't needed. That's their line of thinking.

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